


Bear Makes Three

by IdrisEleven



Series: Da Vinci's Ficlets [7]
Category: Da Vinci's Demons
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Modern AU, Mostly Fluff, Tumblr photo prompt, leario - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-07
Updated: 2016-12-07
Packaged: 2018-09-07 05:03:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8784172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IdrisEleven/pseuds/IdrisEleven
Summary: Riario wants to get away with Leo for a relaxing vacation. Unfortunately, traveling with Leo is far from relaxing.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a photo manipulation by d-ragon-fly posted to Tumblr. I can't help it, you guys--photo prompts create fluff impulses! Thanks for the inspiration!
> 
> Original post here: http://d-ragonfl-y.tumblr.com/post/154167937045/i-think-it-is-too-early-to-start-celebrate

It was Christmas time, so of course the train station was a roiling mass of people rushing to get onto trains, rushing to get off of trains, rushing to make connections between trains, rushing to get to the cab stand before the lines got too long. Unlike Leo, Riario never left things until the last minute, so at least they had their tickets in hand and didn’t have to navigate the lines at the ticket windows and automatic machines.

“Honestly, this station is the single most inefficient public space in all of Florence,” Leo muttered. “I don’t know what idiot designed this, but I could have made it WAY more efficient. And much more aesthetically pleasing as well.” He glared at the banks of skylights. “How can they waste so much glass, and fail to get either views or light?”

Riario shifted his grip on his leather suitcase and scanned the departures board. He had timed their arrival to minimize how long he was going to have to listen to Leo complain about the architecture, and their train was already boarding. He turned to lead them to the track--but Leo wasn’t there.

He used to think Zoroaster was too quick to swear, and had initially attributed the man’s foul mouth to a rough upbringing. He was rapidly revising that opinion to blame it on having spent so many years attempting to ride herd on Leo. “Oh, for fuck’s sake” rang in his ears as clearly as if Zo were standing next to him. They had less than fifteen minutes before the train would leave the station, and Leo was nowhere to be seen.

The crowds seethed and ebbed, an tidal motion of humanity, and Leo was somewhere, clearly distracted, and infuriatingly unconcerned about things like “catching the train before it leaves.” With a deep sigh, Riario gazed at the patterns of movement, trying to determine if he could see where Leo had gone this time.

This time, he was lucky. There was almost a wake, a trail of people that had not quite closed back up after Leo had pushed his way through them. With a flicker of his dark eyes, Riario could track the path, and there, at the end, was the familiar scruffy form. Oddly, he was standing just inside a gift shop--not the sort of place Leo usually could be found.

Riario slid through the masses of people, deft and elegant, leaving no chaos behind him, and in moments he was beside his  _artista_ , improbably contemplating a giant stuffed bear.

“You are not buying that,” he said, his voice as flat and cold as a serpent.

“Why didn’t we bring Zo along?” Leo responded. “Zo could buy this for me and take it back to the studio.” He paused, measuring the bear with his eyes, and doubtless getting the dimensions precisely correct, Riario assumed.

“Zoroaster chose not to come, because he felt quite strongly that being trapped in a train with me would not be good for his health. He was quite vivid about that, you may recall.” Riario’s tone had become even drier, which should not have been possible. Leo, as usual, was not listening.

“If Zo were here, he could get the store owner to do it for me, too. How does he do it? He knows everybody, and they all seem to owe him favors.” Leo was looking around the crowded store, as if he would recognize a clerk or an assistant if he saw one. 

“He knows everyone who frequents those disgusting bars he spends his days in, and I suspect he knows things about them they would prefer to keep secret.” Riario looked between Leo and the bear again. “We are not buying that.”

Leo was fingering the fur on the bear’s paw. “It is amazing what advances they have made in faux fur, isn’t it? Giulio will love this!”

Vanessa’s son? Giulio was literally too small to hold his own head up--the boy had to be less than two months old! “Leo, that bear is too big for a baby. He doesn’t need it and he’s too small to have any idea it’s there. You are taking this godfather role far too much to heart.”

Leo pouted, that stubborn expression that Riario knew meant that he could argue and lose, or he could just lose now and save the time and energy. Stubborn Leo had never been argued out of something he wanted to do. Time was ticking, and the train was going to leave.

“Fine. Buy it then, but I am not going to help you with it in any way.” Riario stepped back, coolly elegant in his tailored black, looking exactly unlike the kind of man who would carry a large white teddy bear through the Florence train station. The threat was empty, of course, because Leo could not be trusted to buy  _only_  the bear. Inevitably, his gaze would be caught by a hundred other trinkets and he would stop to examine their workings. If there was any hope of catching that train, Riario would have to make the purchase and then herd Leo to the platform.

It was a near thing, of course, as traveling with Leo always seemed to be. The train had actually started moving, and the conductor at the door refused to lend a hand, but Leo had jumped aboard with his usual lack of concern for his physical safety, and Riario managed not to lose all his dignity in the process. They settled into their seats, and had to confront the problem of the bear.

“It is never going to fit in the cabin, Leo, you know that.”

Leo got that stubborn look on his face again. “We have a bed, don’t we? If the bed is big enough for us, it’s big enough for the bear.” Riario stared into Leo’s eyes. Surely he wasn’t suggesting the bear was going to be in the bed  _with_  them at night?

“I mean, during the day. The bear can stay there. I guess at night it can--well, there has to be a chair or something, right? We can just move it around so it’s out of the way. It’s not like we are going to spend all our time in the cabin after all.”

Riario sighed. He had been looking forward to this, the first vacation he had allowed himself in quite a long time. A cruise, from Venice through the Greek Islands, for some warmth and sunshine. And, to be honest, he had been planning on spending some enjoyable time, locked alone in the cabin with Leo. The bear was looking like it was going to be a bit of a mood killer.

More immediately, however, was the problem of the bear on the train. It was big enough that it really should have its own seat, which meant it should have its own ticket. It did not fit in the overhead shelf, and it did not really fit on Leo’s lap either. Leo refused to leave it with the luggage at the end of the car. “Somebody would steal it, or worse, get it dirty!” 

The best compromise Riario could see would be to take it with them to the bar car, because the bear could sit in a seat there without reprisal from the conductor when it came time to collect tickets. And Riario could certainly use a drink by now.

It was quite a while before Leo was satisfied with the arrangements for the bear and his own drink. Riario found himself pinching the bridge of his nose to ward off the incipient headache. He was learning that headaches were the cost of spending this much time trying to manage Leo’s executive functions. Things like deadlines, schedules, tickets, were all things that Leo just could not bother to remember. No wonder Zo always looked so frazzled. Leo, however, had the poor taste to look delighted with how things were turning out.

“This is the way to travel!” he gloated, raising his glass of wine and picking over a plate of ( _ridiculously expensive for the questionable quality_ , Riario could not help but notice) cheese and fruit. He smiled benignly at the bear, that sat slightly sideways in an armchair, looking like it was already the worse for drink. Leo tipped his head back, and looked through his eyelashes at Riario, and smiled seductively. “So why don’t you tell me all the things you plan to do to me once we are on that ship and tucked into our own cozy cabin.”

Riario just stared. The day had been exhausting already, and his irritation at his companion was rapidly dissipating his attraction. “After the nonsense you have put me through already, I think you are fortunate I don’t leave slap you across that smug expression and leave you at the next station.”

To his surprise, Leo laughed. It was a warm and delighted sound, proving that Leo was entirely immune to the kind of stiletto insults that Riario was used to using. “Oh, Giro, you are such a drama queen! We made it, didn’t we? We are here, we are on our way to Venice, we are going to spend the next seven days doing nothing but sunning and sexing and I for one intend to spend the entire time at least tipsy.” He drained his glass of wine, and poured another. “C’mon, Giro,” he wheedled, “don’t be so cold.”

That was when Riario noticed that the car  _was_  cold. Colder than it had been an hour ago when they boarded the train. Surely this was unusual--shouldn’t it be warmer than this in Venice? He glanced out the window and drew in a breath. The landscape shouldn’t be rising?

Again, he could hear Zo’s voice in his ears, as clearly as if the man himself were standing there. “Leo, you little shit, you got us on the wrong fucking train!” RIario would never use such inelegant phrasing, but he understood the emotion behind it.

“Leonardo, we are not headed toward Venice. Unless I am very much mistaken, we are on the wrong train, and it appears that we are headed into Switzerland.”

It was not only the wrong train, but it was an express train, they learned, as the conductor came through the car. There were no stops until Zurich. It was Leo’s idea to take a photo in the alpine snow as they waited for another train to take them back to Italy.

And of course the bear was included too.

 


End file.
